Amsterdam, May 1943. As the tulips bloom and the Nazis tighten their grip across the city, the last signs of Dutch resistance are being swept away. Marijke de Graaf and her husband are arrested and deported to different concentration camps in Germany. Marijke is given a terrible choice: to suffer a slow death in the labor camp or—for a chance at survival—to join the camp brothel.

On the other side of the barbed wire, SS officer Karl MŸller arrives at the camp hoping to live up to his father’s expectations of wartime glory. When he encounters the newly arrived Marijke, this meeting changes their lives forever.

Woven into the narrative across space and time is Luciano Wagner’s ordeal in 1977 Buenos Aires, during the heat of the Argentine Dirty War. In his struggle to endure military captivity, he searches for ways to resist from a prison cell he may never leave.

From the Netherlands to Germany to Argentina, The Dutch Wife braids together the stories of three individuals who share a dark secret and are entangled in two of the most oppressive reigns of terror in modern history. This is a novel about the blurred lines between love and lust, abuse and resistance, and right and wrong, as well as the capacity for ordinary people to persevere and do the unthinkable in extraordinary circumstances.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“In The Dutch Wife, Ellen Keith illuminates an important but little known piece of history from World War II: the concentration camp brothels. Keith’s portrayal of Marijke’s courageous yet unfathomable choice is sensitive, graceful and unflinching – and in itself brave. Readers of The Nightingale will be rewarded by this original and unforgettable tale.” —Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan’s Tale

“I’m so impressed by the ambition and bravery of this novel. It confronts the very central ethical concerns and questions about what it is to be human in the world today, what good and evil are, what can be forgiven and what cannot. Literature at its very best tasks itself with these questions, and TheDutchWife places itself in that noble tradition.” —Annabel Lyon, author of The Sweet Girl

From the Back Cover

Amsterdam, May 1943. As the tulips bloom and the Nazis tighten their grip across the occupied city, the last signs of Dutch resistance are being swept away. Marijke de Graaf and her husband are arrested and deported to separate concentration camps in Germany. She is then given a terrible choice: to suffer a slow death in the labour camp or—for a chance at survival—to join the camp brothel.

On the other side of the barbed wire, SS officer Karl Müller arrives at the camp hoping to live up to his father’s expectations of wartime glory. But faced with a brutal routine of overseeing punishments and executions, he longs for an escape. When he encounters the newly arrived Marijke, the meeting changes both of their lives forever.

Woven into the narrative across space and time is Luciano Wagner’s ordeal in 1977 Buenos Aires, during the heat of the Argentine Dirty War. In his struggle to endure military captivity, he searches for ways to resist from a prison cell he may never leave.

From the Netherlands to Germany to Argentina, The Dutch Wife braids together the stories of three individuals who share a dark secret and are entangled in two of the most oppressive reigns of terror in modern history. This is a novel about love, resistance and the blurred lines between right and wrong, as well as the capacity of ordinary people to persevere and do the unthinkable in extraordinary circumstances.

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I really enjoyed this book.It is historical fiction starting during the Second World War.Lovely story about young married couple from Amsterdam , they got separated and send to different war camps.The interesting account of relationships between German officer and Marijke is an eye opener , the difficulty to survive and consequences of our decisions are well presented,emotionally and psychologically very engaging book.

A fascinating story, I learned quite a lot of facts that I was unaware of prior to reading this book.Very moving portal of characters and how war allows people to do things that they would not do in normal times.

Another great World War II story. This is about a couple, married, joined the Resistance movement, non Jewish, arrested and sent to one of the many concentration camps for the duration of war. A very well written book. I like the way Ellen Keith writes. 🤗🤗

I received a copy of this book through an author giveaway in exchange for my honest review.

SPOILER ALERT: The rating is a 3 instead of a 2 simply because the writing is good. Unfortunately many things about "The Dutch Wife" did not work for me.

I do not care for the literary device of having the setting of the novel moving back and forth between time periods, a personal preference, so keep that in mind. If I had realized from the synopsis this particular device was used, I probably wouldn't have entered the give away. Strangely, however, I ended up more intrigued by the storyline in Argentina even though I was hoping for a book set in Europe during WWII. And the tenuous link between the two stories leaves me thinking that the author might have been better off tackling the two different subjects (atrocities, really) in separate novels.

I'm also getting a little sick of novels which depict women forced into sexual servitude and falling in love with their captor. I guess I should be grateful the main female character is not a Jewish girl falling for an SS officer. (And, yes, that's been done, to my dismay.) At least Marijke didn't end up with the Nazi. Of course, this leads to a completely unrealistic ending where she miraculously ends up with her husband. And aside from this dubious ending there were really no uplifting moments in the entire book.

Is Luciano's fate supposed to be poetic justice? Because it doesn't work for me, him paying the price for his father's sins. And why kill Karl/Wagner at the end? Better he live with the agony of not knowing what's become of his son. Maybe the part where he does nothing to help as Luciano is arrested is supposed to mirror the way he failed to help Marijke near the end. As if the reader doesn't realize most SS officers were horrible people and cowards.

No books on the subject of the Holocaust are easy to read, but some are worth the mental anguish. Consider checking out "Anya" by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer or "Heavy Sands" by Anatoli Rybakov. Also a wonderful portrayal of a similar subject, a woman forced into a Nazi brothel in order to survive, is depicted in a series by Bodie and Brock Thoene. (I'm unable to remember which series at the moment, but will update this review if I figure it out.)

In conclusion, although "The Dutch Wife" was a little disappointing for me, I would consider reading another book by Ellen Keith simply because she writes well.

Those who finished this, let alone enjoyed it, are made of stronger stuff than I am. At 44 percent through- when we learn what happens to Theo- I'd had enough of rape, beatings, torture, Nazi philosophy and so on. I was willing to go with it because of Marijke, who "chose" to join the brothel at Buchenwald in the hope that she would be freed (hah) and then because I thought there might be some good in Karl, the SS officer, and then because I wondered what was going on with Luciano, the gay Argentinian student being tortured in the 1970s. But then I had enough. This was unrelentingly grim and frankly not the least bit enjoyable. It's also- warning- graphic in the depiction of sex. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm giving this three stars for the writing and for Keith's willingness to tackle ugly subjects but just could not finish it.